


Magnus Bane Inc.

by static_abyss



Series: Flash Bang Bingo (team orange) [18]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Human, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Gen, Ghost Hunters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-28 15:25:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14452155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/static_abyss/pseuds/static_abyss
Summary: Magnus Bane is most definitely a ghost hunter and he has an ad to prove it. His number is listed undermediumin the phone books, but it says very clearly that he is a ghost hunter right there, underneath his name.Magnus Bane Inc., cleansing your home, one pesky ghost at a time, his ad reads.Which is why, after a long week of pretending to read people's fortunes, he gets a call for a ghost hunter job, and he is zero percent surprised.Really.Magnus Bane really is a ghost hunter.He is.





	1. Part I: Clary Fairchild

**Author's Note:**

> For the ghost hunter square on the Shadowhunters Flash Bang Bingo.

Clarissa Fray's real name is Clary Fairchild and Magnus Bane has met her before. 

When she was younger, her mother used to bring her to Magnus's parents' apartment, and while the grownups talked about talismans, Magnus and Clary tried their best to be friends. What had happened in the end was that Magnus, eight years Clary's senior, had become more of a big brother to her. They'd take walks around the front yard, Clary mesmerized by Magnus's knowledge of different types of herbs. Magnus, the ever giving big brother, would take a few and pack them up for Clary to take home with her. Then the next week would come, and Clary and Magnus would do it all over again.

Until eventually, Clary and her mother stopped coming. Until eventually, Magnus moved to Brooklyn, opened his own shop, and very clearly did not become a medium like his parents. 

But that, is besides the point. 

Currently, Clary Fray lives in a two-bedroom apartment with four other roommates, who are all either at work or at school.

"And what do you do?" Magnus asks Clary.

He doesn't want to push if she doesn't remember him. 

"I go to school, too. I'm in an art program," she says. 

"Oh, how wonderful," Magnus says. "You always did want to be an artist."

"You know," Clary says, motioning for Magnus to follow her deeper into the apartment. "I knew I remembered you from somewhere."

"Early morning meetings every Saturday with my parents."

Clary nods, smile wide and friendly. Magnus has always liked that about her, how easily pleased she was. He thinks, maybe, if the work isn't too hard, he might just give her a discount. 

-

Clary called because her apartment is haunted. Her bedroom to be precise. The one all the way at the end of the apartment, furthest to the left, down two hallways, and in between two closets. 

The apartment is well-kept, decently sized for an upper East side, close to the Bronx, apartment. The front door opens into a hallway that ends in a living room with a closed door.

"That's where Alec and Jace sleep," Clary explains. "They're the most annoying, so they get the bigger room with the heaviest door."

In between the front door and Alec and Jace's bedroom is a third roommate, Simon's bedroom, the kitchen and a closet. At the end of the first hallway, to the right is a second hallway that ends in the bathroom. To the left of that is Clary's room that she shares with her girlfriend, Isabelle. 

"A girlfriend?" Magnus asks. "How very interesting of you Clarissa Fray."

"Call me Clary," she says, but she high fives Magnus when he raises his hand. 

Their apartment is pristine, but Magnus suspects that's only because he can't see the inside of the boys' bedrooms. Well, that is what he thinks right up to very moment when Clary opens her bedroom door and Magnus sees chaos for the first time in his life. 

There are clothes everywhere, from the full-sized bed to the dresser that holds the TV. On top of the TV, hanging from the antenna is a single, white sock. Across the floor from the door to the two windows, there are sheets of papers, paint pots, a pile of shoes in one corner, and a small collection of used dishes. 

"Sorry," Clary says, wincing at the look of horror on Magnus's face. "Isabelle was supposed to clean yesterday, but her meeting ran late."

"That's all right. Creative minds and such," Magnus says, spotting the only clean thing in the room. "Nice gecko."

The 15-gallon tank sits on a white vanity, to the right of a row of foundations and concealers. The inside of the tank has a single large rock, surrounded by smaller plants, with a bulb overhead. At that moment, the gecko is hanging out by the side of the tank towards the sunlight streaming through the blinds. There's not a fingerprint on the tank, no sign of dust surrounding the tank, but there's very clearly a line separating the gecko tank from the cosmetics on the vanity. 

"I take it the gecko belongs to Isabelle," Magnus says, as he examines the foundation names. 

"How did you know?" Clary asks, her eyes darting between Magnus and the gecko. 

Magnus lets her wonder for a minute. He enjoys this part of the business, where his customers think they see something that shakes their entire world. It makes the actual ghost hunting sweeter, to see how not even in their wildest dreams could his customers imagine the things Magnus Bane can do. 

"I can't speak to animals," Magnus says. "But I do know that Isabelle has oily skin and she should try the new Too Faced foundation. It has a very nice matte finish." 

"Oh," Clary says. "Right."

Magnus finishes looking at the makeup on the vanity and turns around. Clary sits on the edge of her and Isabelle's bed, her red hair tied back into a ponytail. She's wearing old jeans and a large t-shirt stained with paint. When Magnus looks around the room, he can see her painting corner, at the end of the two windows, a half-finished drawing of her mother.

Magnus knows it's her mother from memories, but also because next to the painting stands Jocelyn Fray, her red hair tied loosely at the top of her head.

"Oh, Clary," Magnus says. "I'm so sorry."

-

What happened was this: Jocelyn ran from an abusive husband, changed her name, and paid Magnus's parents to keep said husband away. How his parents did it, Magnus can't say, but Valentine Morgenstern never found Jocelyn or Clary until the day Magnus buried his parents. 

"He's in jail," Clary says. "Da--I mean, Luke, put him away. He testified at the trial. I wanted to."

From the other side of Clary, Jocelyn shakes her head.

"She wouldn't have wanted you to do that," Magnus tells Clary. "She doesn't think a child should have to testify against a parent. No matter what that parent did."

"How…? Wait," Clary says, jumping off her bed. "She's here? She's the one who's been haunting me?"

Jocelyn smiles, her eyes fond as she looks at Clary. She reaches out to touch Clary's hair and only smiles sadly when her hand goes through. Magnus has been doing this for going on ten years, in between the tarot card readings and the occasional fortune telling. Still, he doesn't think he will ever be over the heavy weight of a mother saying goodbye to her child.

"Tell her I love them," Jocelyn Fray says. "And that it's about time she cleaned her room."

Then, dramatic as can be, Jocelyn Fray is gone.

"Uh," Magnus says. 

"Yes?" Clary asks. "What did she say?"

She's small and thin, a little wisp of a thing, but the deathgrip Clary has on Magnus's arm is going to bruise. 

"First," Magnus says. "Ouch."

Clary lets go immediately. "What did she say? Is she still here?"

Magnus sighs. He has done this ghost hunting thing maybe ten times in the last ten years, because clearly people can't take advantage of talent even if it's right under their noses. He knows more or less what to do, the right comforting words, even when the ghost haunting the person just wants them dead. Especially then, because hauntings are more often than not, just family members holding a grudge. But even if Magnus hasn't seen Clary since he was thirteen, he still knows her. 

"She said to tell you that she loves you. Plural," Magnus says. "And that you should really, really clean your room."

Clary laughs, eyes bright with unshed tears through her grin. "Yeah," she says. "I think I will."

For this time only, Magnus doesn't charge.


	2. Part II: Raphael Santiago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael walked in at around four in the afternoon, right around the time Magnus was debating whether or not to check on Clary Fray, sat down on Magnus's favorite couch and said, "There's a ghost in my kitchen, and I need you to handle that.

Raphael has not, will not, and shall never be Magnus's ghost hunting assistant. 

"But you were there when we did the cleansing in Sleepy Hollow," Magnus says.

It's a Friday, and business has been slow this week. Magnus had a call earlier from a woman who needed to know if her cat would like to be buried with his favorite toy, or his favorite blanket. Magnus had tried to explain that he did mostly human ghost cleansings, and that he was not, in fact, a medium, despite where his ad was placed. But the lady had been insistent and she'd asked that Magnus give it his best guess, so Magnus had told her both. 

"Oh that's exactly what he would have wanted," the lady had said. "Thank you so much, Mr. Bane."

Then, she'd read out her credit card numbers and Magnus had charged her the usual fee and that was the end of business for the day. 

Raphael was a surprise. He had walked in at around four in the afternoon, right around the time Magnus was debating whether or not to check on Clary Fray, had sat down on Magnus's favorite couch and said, "There's a ghost in my kitchen, and I need you to handle that. And no, I will not help you because, no, I am not your assistant. Sleepy Hollow doesn't count."

"Sleepy Hollow definitely counts," Magnus says, going into the kitchen to start a pot of tea. 

Raphael drinks coffee or hot chocolate exclusively, but the caffeine is going to kill him and Magnus refuses to be part of that death. 

"I don't want tea," Raphael calls from the living room.

Magnus's loft carries sound very well, sometimes too well. He lives in Williamsburg, right by the edge of the old rent-regulated apartment buildings and the louder, newer Hipster-flooded bars and restaurants. He has a loft apartment that looks out into a street lined with houses, right across from a lounge that serves thin single-serve pizzas with every beer you order. It's the bar that marks the end of old Williamsburg and the start of gentrification. 

Magnus is not a liar. He enjoys the new bars and restaurants, because he has the money to enjoy those things. He has the money for a loft with a living room so massive, he can fit three couches in it. His kitchen is state of the art, and he has two bedrooms, three if he counts the guest bedroom next to his second bathroom. He always has money to pay his bills, even when business is slow. 

Raphael, too, is well off, enough to own his apartment in mid-Manhattan, the first part of a long inheritance they each received from their parents. Their parents had loved them and had left them well-provided for. Magnus is grateful for who raised them, and he knows Raphael is too, even though it had taken them a while to get there. 

Magnus had been adopted when he was eight years old, right out of the orphanage, and in the middle of his worst nightmares. He used to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Sometimes, he didn't sleep at all. It all depended on what he was most scared of at the time. His adoptive parents had done everything they could think of, had taken him to psychiatrists and therapists. Magnus had been on medication since he was ten years old, then off permanently once Raphael had come into their lives. 

Their parents meant well, even if they didn't know what they were doing half the time. Like when Raphael, eight and afraid, told them his name was Rafael and they put him down as Raphael on all his documents. Or how when Raphael sang his songs in quiet Spanish, they asked him to translate so that they could understand, and then how they asked that he sing to them in English because the lyrics were beautiful.

It messes a kid up, Magnus knows now. But their parents loved them, and he and Raphael had each other, and that made things okay. 

Most of the time. 

"Will you get off your ass and deal with my ghost?" Raphael asks.

"No," Magnus says. "Not before tea."

-

The ghost is Rosa. 

Rosa Santiago was Raphael's younger sister. Their father had come to the United States to work when Raphael was born. Then, their mother had just never heard from him again. Until the day she died, Raphael's mother never knew what happened, if Raphael's dad had made it and just left. Or if he'd gotten lost somewhere between Mexico and the United States, if he'd been caught, murdered, kidnapped. She hadn't known, but she'd had two children to feed. 

So, when Raphael was six, she'd asked around and found someone who was willing to lend her children their birth certificates. She'd packed a change of clothes for each of them, had quizzed them until their heads hurt on their new names, their new birthdays. Then, she had packed a change of clothes, had sold everything she owned, and had met them in New York. 

Raphael, as the oldest, had taken care of the house while his mother went out and worked. He'd helped as much as he could, had been there to walk Rosa to school, to puzzle out their homework together. He'd tried so hard to do as much as he could to keep both his mother and Rosa safe. And then, there had been the car accident.

But that is how these things sometimes go.

-

"What do you mean the ghost is Rosa?" Raphael asks.

He sounds so small, Magnus wishes he could take it all back. But he will not lie to Raphael, especially not about this.

"She told me her name is Rosa," Magnus says. "And I've seen the picture you have of her."

Rosa is six, with long black hair and big brown eyes. She has Raphael's nose and when she smiles at Magnus, he can see Raphael in every one of her features. 

"Hello," she says.

Magnus turns to Raphael. "She's beautiful," he says. "She looks just like you."

-

"This still doesn't make me your assistant," Raphael says, taking the burning sage Magnus hands him.

They're in Raphael's kitchen, a long hallway-like room to the left of the entrance. Rosa is sitting on the counter across from the stove, next to the clean dishes Raphael was supposed to put away this morning. She's banging her legs against the counter and answering every one of Raphael's questions. 

"Is she really okay?" Raphael asks for the third time.

Rosa smiles. "Tell him I say yes."

"She said yes, didn't she?" Raphael asks. "No, never mind. I can already hear what she said."

"I wish he could see me," Rosa says.

Magnus watches as Raphael places the burning sage in a cup. Rosa scoots to the left to stay out of the way of the smoke, and settles down to watch Raphael make his way across the apartment.

There are two altars in Raphael's apartment, one in his bedroom on the wall opposite his bed, and one in the living room. Both altars have crosses, flowers, and a picture of La Virgen de Guadalupe. The altar in Raphael's bedroom has a picture of his and Magnus's adoptive parents and the only picture Raphael has of his mother. But the living room altar, the one that's bathed in sunlight every morning, has the picture of Rosa. The altar in the living room is where Raphael puts his offerings for Dia de los Muertos, the first place he stops at in his mornings, and the last place he touches before be sleeps.

"We'll do it in the living room," Raphael says.

Rosa nods to the burning sage, hops off the kitchen counter, and holds her hand out for Magnus to take. 

"Don't forget the sage," Raphael says, at the same time.

Magnus would laugh, if he didn't know how much this is costing Raphael.

"Tell him I've only been stuck for a few days," Rosa says. "I was fine before that. And right now, I only really need a prayer."

Magnus takes the burning sage and dumps it into the sink. He and Raphael make eye contact, and they haven't needed words, the two of them, not since they met. 

"I can leave you alone, if it would be easier," Magnus says.

But Raphael holds out his hand, so Magnus takes it. 

After, when Rosa is gone and Raphael is done with his rosary, he looks at Magnus and says. "I'm still not your assistant."

And that's how Magnus knows everything will be okay.


	3. Part III: Alexander Lightwood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By the end of the walk to the cash register, Magnus has met Clary's girlfriend, Isabelle, over the phone and he has a job. It's his third home cleansing to get rid of a haunting in less than a week, and Magnus has made zero dollars.

Clary Fray calls a week after Magnus leaves her apartment, and three days after Raphael packs a bag and takes Magnus's second bedroom.

"I'm not moving in," Raphael says, when he dumps his bag in Magnus's living room. "I just need some time."

Magnus just goes out and buys Raphael instant coffee, because he won't be part of Raphael's caffeine addiction, but his loft is only ten minutes from three different supermarket chains. Raphael catches up to him there, and as they're fighting over whether or not they're going to buy brown sugar or honey, Magnus's work phone rings.

"Magnus Bane, Inc.," Magnus says. "Magnus Bane speaking. How can I help you?"

By the end of the walk to the cash register, Magnus has met Clary's girlfriend, Isabelle, over the phone and he has a job. It's his third home cleansing to get rid of a haunting in less than a week, and Magnus has made zero dollars.

"You don't need the money," Raphael says.

"I know," Magnus says. "But it's a matter of principle."

"Well, if you want their money," Raphael says. "Don't be so obvious that all you want is their money."

Which is a fair point.

-

When Alexander Lightwood sees Magnus for the first time, he overdoes it on the stunned look. But whatever, Magnus will take it. 

-

"Hello," Magnus says.

He doesn't know the name of the man who opens the door for the first twenty seconds of their interaction. What Magnus does know is that he's glad he wore his favorite red coat today because it has a flattering cut. What Magnus also knows is that the guy at the door is very clearly checking him out.

"I'm Magnus. I'm here to see Isabelle," Magnus says. 

The guy at the door visibly deflates. "Oh," he says.

Magnus thinks about it for two seconds and decides that he deserves this. "I'm here about her ghost problem," he says. "But if you would like me to be here for someone else, I could do that too."

The guy at the door turns bright red and mutters something under his breath. Magnus just smiles, amused and flattered. It has been a while since someone was so excited to see him. Longer than that since Magnus has been interested in the attention. 

"I…" the guy starts, stops, and seems to remember himself. "My name is Alexander Lightwood. Um, I mean, Alec, you can just call me Alec."

Magnus grins, extending his hand. "Nice to meet you, Alexander Lightwood," he says, shaking Alec's hand. "Do you think you can let me in?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Alec says, moving aside. 

Magnus makes a show of stepping inside, his arm barely brushing Alec's as he does. It's all a very complicated process, the single step, the slightest brush, followed by a quick apology. Alec shaking his head as he turns to close the door, his attention still on Magnus, but knowing automatically what to do. Magnus waits for Alec to be done with the front door, before he gestures for Alec to lead the way. There's another moment, where both of them are staring at each other, just a second, before Alec runs into the open closet door as he tries to fall into step with Magnus.

"Lewis," Alec says, exasperated.

Magnus makes a questioning noise. 

"It's nothing," Alec says. "Roommate."

They make their way down the front door hallway, and it isn't until Magnus comes face to face with the door in front of what should be the living room, that he remembers what Clary said about this particular room. Jace and Alec share this room, which leaves Magnus with two options: Alec and Jace are together or Alec and Jace are not together. And only one of those options looks good. 

"Is Clary in?" Magnus asks.

"No," Alec says. "But Isabelle is. She's the one who called you right?"

Magnus nods, and waits as Alec makes his excuses and goes off to find Isabelle. As soon as Alec turns to go to Isabelle and Clary's room, Magnus pulls his phone out to text Raphael. When he scrolls down his messages, he sees that he has 18 unread messages from his, Raphael and Ragnor's chat group. The last two are just "ARE YOU DEAD?????" and "I'm keeping the loft if he is." Magnus sends a quick, "i'm alive. met a guy. will fill you in later byeee," and puts his phone away just as Alec, and who Magnus assumes is Isabelle, come back.

Isabelle is very clearly Alexander Lightwood's sister. They have the same colored hair and the same shape to their eyebrows, but where Alec's eyes are light brown, Isabelle's are as dark as her hair. She's much shorter than Alec is, beautiful in a different way, but when Magnus looks at them, at the set of their shoulders, and the tilt of their heads, he knows they're related. 

"Hello," Isabelle says, shaking Magnus's hand. "I'm Isabelle. We spoke over the phone."

"Of course," Magnus says. "You have a ghost problem."

Isabelle nods and steps in front of Alec to speak to Magnus. She takes Magnus's arm and walks him the three steps to the living room door as she explains the issue. Magnus pretends he doesn't see Alec's disappointed face, and then he pretends twice as hard that he's not enjoying all the attention.

"We have a ghost, and ever since you came to see Clary we don't have the issues with the mess," Isabelle is saying. "But then Jace and Alec started hearing things at night, and then the other night, there was a mess in their room. Well, you'll see."

Isabelle moves to open the door, but at the last second, Alec jumps in front of her. "Wait," he says. "Jace is in there."

"Ah," Isabelle says, her eyes darting between Magnus and Alec. "I see."

Alec glares at Isabelle, gives Magnus an apologetic look, and disappears behind the closed living room door.

"Interesting," Isabelle says. 

-

So, the thing is, Jace would be attractive in the boring way, except that his eyes are two different colors, and when he smiles at Magnus, it's not entirely narcissistic.

"Nice to meet you," Jace says.

He's grinning widely and Isabelle is staring at him like she wants to figure out whatever mystery she sees on Jace's face. Jace shakes Magnus's hand and it's not flirtatious, but it's definitely something. 

"This is Jace," Alec says. "He's our brother."

Magnus swears he can see the light bulb go off in Isabelle's brain, the entire family is so obvious. It's sort of refreshing, until Isabelle turns her bright grin on Magnus and says, "Don't be so obvious, dear."

She is very clearly talking to Alec, but she's looking at Magnus, which confuses everything. Alec looking like he wants the ground to swallow him whole doesn't help much either.

-

They make a circle, because if Magnus left it up to Alexander Lightwood, they would never get anywhere. He knows this from spending about six minutes in total with the Lightwood siblings. Isabelle and Jace are clearly most comfortable in social situations, both of them easing into conversation with Magnus, both of them engaging and comfortable. Magnus finds out that Jace is adopted, that he started having nightmares about three nights ago, around the time that he and Alec started hearing noises at night. Magnus finds out that Alec recently came out to the family, that the Lightwoods are only half-joking when they say that they think the ghost could be their grandmother throwing a tantrum. 

"Grandma loved me," Alec protests. 

Isabelle pats his arm. "We know. We're just joking."

"Family members are the most common kind of ghosts," Magnus says, nodding sympathetically. "My brother, Raphael, was being haunted by his sister." 

Jace catches the subtle difference, the missing "our," and nods at Magnus. Just like that Magnus is in, and it's easier to feel the energy in the room, something heavier in the air. It doesn't feel like it's coming from Jace, but it doesn't feel like it's coming from Alec either. 

"Would you excuse me?" Magnus says.

He leaves the Lightwoods gathered at the door and steps into the center of the living room. Jace and Alec's bed fit easily on opposite sides of the room, Alec's furthest from the windows and Jace's bed as close as possible. In between the two beds is a pile of paperwork, clothes, and a neat stack of photo albums. The mess starts right up against the wall and follows a straight line to where Magnus stands at the center of the room. Around the TV and the playstation is a scattering of DVDS, discs out of their cases across the desk, some falling over the sides. On Jace's bed are thousands of tiny pieces of paper placed almost lovingly, a pillowy mess. Alec's bed is worse, covered in strips of cloth, bedsheets half off, like someone clawed their way up the bed. The energy on that side of the room is different, thicker, as though Magnus is moving through heavy wind when he walks towards Alec's bed. 

"Interesting," Magnus says. 

"Interesting?" Jace asks. 

"You seem to have a poltergeist," Magnus says. "You don't work together, do you?"

"No," Isabelle says. "Jace works at the school with me."

"I thought so," Magnus says. "I think the poltergeist is trying to haunt both of you, but can't follow both of you at the same time, so it's stuck in your room for now. Until it makes up its mind as to who it wants to haunt, obviously."

"Obviously," Jace says.

Magnus just waves him away. "Unfortunately, I think your ghost is starting to make up its mind."

Isabelle, Jace, and Alec turn to stare at the mess on Alec's bed. 

"Sorry, man," Jace says.

"What do we have to do?" Alec asks.

Magnus is already pulling out his phone, careful to keep the screen away from the Lightwoods. He hasn't done many cleansings in his life, so he keeps his prayers and incantations on his google drive. But Magnus knows telling the Lightwoods that won't go over very well.

"Okay," Magnus says, once he's read the proper incantation a few times. "We're going to need sage and a fifth person."

-

Simon Lewis is Clary's best friend. Magnus knows because that's how Simon introduces himself the first time.

"Hello," Simon says, shaking Magnus's hand. "I'm also a musician."

Magnus warms up to Simon almost immediately, something about how friendly his smile is, and the general air about him. Magnus is glad Clary Fray found herself a good friend and secretly, he is glad she managed to surround herself with the Lightwoods, one of them in particular. But Magnus will follow up with that later.

"I heard we need to make a circle," Simon tells Magnus. "I also heard you saw Jocelyn."

Which derails all plans for about thirty minutes, while Magnus explains to Simon the art of reading energies in rooms, and carefully skips over the fact that this is only Magnus's fifth cleaning in the last three years. 

"Oh, so you're an expert at this," Simon says. "That's great. I really need to sleep again, and Alec and Jace both scream when they're scared. Then everyone is up at like, three in the morning, and some of us need to go to class early."

Magnus laughs, laughs harder when he sees the betrayed look on Jace's face and the indignant look on Alec's. Isabelle, who is sitting on Jace's bed, hasn't said anything, but Magnus knows when he's being watched. He also thinks he has a very good idea about why.

-

Magnus isn't going to deny that he purposely puts Alexander Lightwood on his immediate left, but he isn't going to accept it either. Especially not when Alec tries his best to not seem too eager to hold Magnus's hand, and fails. 

They are adults, after all.

-

Alexander Lightwood's ghost problem is much simpler than Magnus anticipated. There is a moment where Jace freezes up and Magnus has to remind everybody not to let go. Oddly enough, it's Simon who has the most trouble staying in his spot after that. And once Jace is okay and breathing normally again, it's Simon who doesn't take his eyes off Jace. No one else seems to notice, and Magnus isn't the type to tell, so he forgets about it almost as soon as he sees it. 

The rest of the cleansing goes by smoothly. They burn the sage, they make their circle, and Magnus recites the Latin prayer five times. He adds a quick Spanish prayer that Raphael taught him, says one in English just to make sure, and they're done. 

"Well," Jace says, once it's over. "Who the hell did we piss off, and how do we stop ourselves from doing it again?"

"There's no way to tell, unfortunately," Magnus says. "You just go about your life and if you anger any ghosts, you won't know until your room looks like this, again."

Magnus waves at the mess around the room and realizes that not only is he suddenly very tired, but he is starving. "Well," he says, smoothing down his jacket, carefully and deliberately. He tries his best not to smile when he sees Alec tracking the movement of his hands. "I really do have to go now. Give Clary my best."

"So soon?" Isabelle asks. 

She's looking at Alec, her face an unreadable mask to Magnus, but Jace and Alec must see something in it, because Jace turns away to hide his laugh and Alec steps forward towards Magnus.

"I'll walk you out," he says. 

The walk to the door is different this time, because something about Alec is different. Magnus can't figure out if it's the way Alec is walking, or maybe some sort of tension that isn't there anymore. He tries to figure it out all the way to the door, and then Alec has the door open and Magnus is stepping out.

"So," Magnus starts.

"I'd like to see you again," Alec says, very helpfully doing half of the work.

"Good," Magnus says, slipping his card into Alec's hand. "I'd like to see you again, too."

-

When Magnus gets home, Raphael already has the tea waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> This is Part I of IV. I will be adding characters and relationships as the last three chapters go up. Right now, we are looking at one chapter a day, but this is flash bang bingo so we will see.


End file.
